The Breakfast Club interview with Jasmine Guy + A Different World's Cast

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1:00Get out the breakfast club. Morning everybody, it's DJ and V Jessalari. It's Shonda main, the guy. We are the breakfast club. Longer roses here as well. We got some special guests in the building. Some icons. That's right. We have Jasmine Gyeshe's back. Welcome. We have Darryl Bell. And we have Creeson. That's right. A different well is back. It returns. Alan Lissin. Oh my gosh. And we've got a couple episodes that we've seen so far. And I was nervous because this was my show, right? This was the show that made it. Want to go to Hampton University. Wanted me to go to the HBCU. So when people do a reboot or return, you're always nervous of how they're going to put it together. And when I say after watching two episodes, I wanted to go back to college one more time. Like I did like the way that they make this. Yeah, the mission accomplished. And I'm not saying that because you're there. Because Lauren went to Del State, which is an HBCU. I went to Hampton. And we sat out there and we spoke about it for about 30, 40 minutes. And how it made us feel. We relate for the segment because they're like, what y'all doing? I'm like, oh, we reminiscing. I was like, man, I wish I could get that freshman year feeling again.

2:00That first party and like you seeing all the Greeks. And like it's literally a whole different world. Walking on campus, having a talk. Convocation. The dress code. Right, a curfew. I had a curfew. We had a curfew. We had a curfew. I ain't no bother. Yeah, we had a curfew. And I love the way that they mix the old cast with the new cast. So it's something that my kids could watch. But then I can enjoy. So I was, I really enjoyed doing the show. We all nervous at all to get that connection and make sure it connected like the original. Well, it was shot with the one camera, more like a movie. And we did the original on the sound stage with four cameras. You know, like Sanford and Sun, like all the sitcoms that we grew up with. And we had a live audience. So I was worried that I wouldn't know if I was landed or not. Because with a live audience, they laugh or they don't laugh, you know. But it was still held as humor.

3:00I like the dimensions of the relationships that we've created. I also like that we are organically woven into the fabric of Hillman. You know, with these on the board and Dwayne is a provost and Freddie Brooks is a professor of law and poppik. You talk. I don't. I'm dying to. He's dying too. No. We call him pontificus. He's dying. We'll fit out, Darryl. You know you want to. All right. That's why I let y'all get the first shot. No. I appreciate it. Yes. One question I plan to talk for the next 40 five minutes. Yeah. Um, so you're right. I wasn't worried. And I wasn't worried because of a question we were asked from a student radio show at NHBC. They said the black community has already claimed a different world as it as its own. That's right. They asked the new kids, what do you think you can add to the diaspora? So even if this new show was a complete flop, it was never going to target the work we had already done.

4:00So we could step into this with the comfort of saying, for me, it was like putting on your favorite pair of shoes or your favorite pair of jeans and saying, I'm going to put this character back on unless he booked me going to do with it. Ron went off and got married at a son lost his wife to cancer. Now he's a single father raising his son on his own. And that's a lot to really deal with. And you're going to see that play out over the 10 episodes. And it was a lot of fun. And then to see all these beautiful young artists that have come to the table. When I said next to Jasmine, I said, we met the school days in 1987. Wow. Here we are 40 years later. And this is my sister right here. So with me and Kadeem and Jazz, I said to all the kids, here you are in Atlanta, where we started at 20-something years old, hold on to each other. It was 40 years from now. Y'all going to be family too. And so to see what I told them on day one, they all said, you know, I was the first new cast member they met, I took them all to dinner on the very first night I met them. And I said, you're only obligation

5:02is to do the best work you can and have a good time. My only obligation is to beat up all of you with what, Clinton, Sherman, Mary Alice, Lume Myers, Debbie Allen, Diane Carroll, Patty LeDelle, Lena Horn, and all the other legends were to us. They wrapped their arms around us and notwithstanding all of their success, they made us feel at home. And I think we all did. What exactly did this new show have to get right for each of y'all to agree to want to do it again? A contra-get-it-check. I'm mad. I'm out of motion. Tell the way of being here in this for decades. Yeah, let's talk. Yeah, we're going to read. We're doing that. I have to say. Yeah, they had been dangling in front of us for so long. You know, everyone kept saying, you know, we're going to bring it back. We're going to bring it back. And then you get to mark 39. And so one says, you're going to bring it back. And you say, that's f***ing there's no way. It's been 39 years. Well, believe me. Yeah, we'll believe it when we signed the contract. And also as an actor, I think I was 19 when I started a new world. Now I'm in my mid 50s with two babies.

6:03You never get to go back and play a character 39. That's right. When y'all heard you were bringing it back, what was your first reaction to those? We didn't believe it. Okay. Yeah, because like I said, we just met everyone been saying, you should bring it back. And God bless, Debbie Allen had been trying to bring it back. And it wouldn't, for decades, she was trying to bring it back. And then Darryl was trying to bring it back. And everyone just kept saying no. So finally, when they said they're bringing it back, we all kind of said, we'll believe it when we, but on the dotted line. And look, if you, if I'm going to be real transparent, one of the things that I was concerned about when they brought it back is they were bringing it back without Susan Fales Hill. Yeah. And Darryl was there, but I didn't know Falesha pride. And I didn't know what it would be like. And she's done a fantastic job. You know, she was very open to all of us. We had a lot of input, as much input as we could over the characters and some of the arcs. And I wish there was a way that we could have done everything we wanted. But part of what this show,

7:04if there's anything this show is confined by, it's the only have 10 episodes. We had 25 episodes and six seasons. So that gives you a lot more runway to do more things and take your time to develop more. And some of the reactions have been, it's just over too fast. Yeah. So that's one of the season two. So, okay, would you extend it to an hour episode or would you extend it to a 12 or 15 30 minute arc? An hour. I would do two episodes. I would do the episode longer. Oh, yeah, you can hit 10. That's good. That's an hour. I was like, is over already? Yeah. Can you see when that style is showed over like the live audience? Like it's like, it's more like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're shooting six, okay. The only problem I would say with that is, and I agree, Rex, I love watching it, that a lot of these young kids now, they watch things fast, right? Like my daughter watches YouTube on times two speed, right? I know. I have two daughters, and they have the attention spans of a Seatsy fly

8:04because of this **** they're doing all day. And then I was even told by someone it was so disparaging that they're encouraging writers to consider when you're creating that the audience is going to look at the screen and then back down to their phone. And so keep that in mind. What are you watching? Yes. So this is what we become. Even music, you know, back in the day, you'd hear a five minute song, right? You would rock out, you listen to old Michael Jackson, they got seven minute songs. Right. Five minute outro. And you know that every last minute to the outro, but now songs are minute and 45. But this is the one that's not one of five. Five minutes. Yeah, ****. You don't know where you're right. I think it got to be. Yeah, I think it's good. It can work. And that was the first thing I thought when I watched that first episode, and the credits came up, I thought I like skipped it. Actually, so I was like, oh, no, there was, it didn't feel like the 30 minute. Like, yeah, so fast. And there are a lot of storylines in this new version. You have a lot of characters. Yeah, they're 10 of us. Yeah, so the 4 OGs and then the 6 newbies

9:06and then all of the characters that fill in the university around them. And then our extended family were Glenn Turner, the OGs get back. AJ Sanders, John now. Jita came back. Charlie. All right, we have more with the cast of a different world. Jasmine Guy, Kree Summer and Darryl Bell, when we come back. Mr. Breakfast Club, good morning. Yeah. Hello, hello, hello, hi. I guess I didn't run out of options. Can't keep in and sizing. Oh, I'm calling you so we can lock in. But you call me tired, yeah. You make it easy for me to believe in love. You better believe it, because maybe I'm making something better than it. You are before smiling, because you know I know you know I.

10:07You're the one who everybody is DJ and V. Jess hilarious. Shalom in the guy. We are the Breakfast Club, La Rosa's here as well. We're still kicking in with a cast of a different world. It's on Netflix right now. Jasmine Guy, Kree Summer and Darryl Bell, Shalom in. What would Freddie think about activism in the social media? Oh, I think she would be so torn up, because you know, one of her greatest pursuits is the truth. And I think to be a compassionate, human loving person, it's very hard with social media. It's making us so apacetic. I mean, you can watch so many atrocities and just dead inside, right? You could swipe atrocities all day. And I think that's the channel's dedicated. Yeah, and people can't get enough of it. And I think it's stopping us from, you know, the irony is you know, it's supposed to connect us. But I think it's really disassociating us. So I think Freddie would probably be protesting against it. She'd probably say, brothers and sisters, put your phones down and look each other in the eye.

11:07Hmm. This is a question for all of y'all. When y'all came back to these characters, right? Did you recognize them immediately? Or did you have to figure out who they, who they became? No, I think I recognized it immediately. But what we all had to do, because I know we keep reiterating, is that it's a sequel. So we're not rebooting anything. And that it's filmed differently, right? When you've got four cameras and it's a sitcom, everything is so big and over the top. And you get to single cam, it's so intimate. So I think everyone kind of had to center and drop down into a more realistic version of our characters, which as an actor is just fun. It's challenging. And like I said, we are evolved. We evolved, like you said, we lived enough life. We evolved with them. But I mean, I don't think those characters ever left us, not for us. How about you, Gavin? I know her very well. And I said, okay, so who would we be in her 50s? And how would she react to what's happening to her? So when the show ended,

12:09Whitley was pregnant. So Dwayne and I had two older kids in their 30s. And then we had a oops baby with Degora. And she's now a freshman at Helmand. And I think Whitley is feeling, who am I? I've been with Dwayne for most of my life, 40 years. And now my kids are gone. I don't have my, I'm not in charge of my beauty empire, whatever. Glitter by Gilbert, thank you. I'm like, what's the name of my empire? She asked me every time. It's hard to say. Okay. Okay. And I think she's going through a little loss. And when Whitley is afraid or insecure, she slashes before she can be slashed. And I already knew that about her. And she is going at it with her daughter, who is not representing the way she wants. And she's bougie. You know, so there's a lot of that saying. Not the daughter, bougie, mama bougie.

13:10Mama bougie. So she wants her looking right at the right. She starts twerking in the middle of the homecoming march. Horrifying. You know. And she has legacy. That's the way she is. When the girl said, and I'm going to give away, when the roommate said I'm from Compton, he was like, watch, I'm like, oh, that's Whitley Whitley. That's my girl. That's my girl. I grilled that girl. Roche, that's my girl. That's the girl I can't make. She's from Connecticut. Connecticut. Well, see, well, that's one of the things that they've been emphasizing that it's not a reboot. It's a dramedic. And so in tone, a lot of people have said, you only mean like Belair. And there's some truth to that, particularly since our showrunner Philly tried, wrote on Belair, right? And the only, well, the major distinction is Belair didn't have any of the original performers come back and reprise their roles where we do. So at the same time, and I've already seen reviews

14:11that have said, even if they call it a dramedic, they still found a lot of humor in it, which we like, because we thought it might have gone too far dramatic. And I'm glad that it was infused with comedy. So in that sense, it was easier to find because the storylines warranted a different tone. You know, what Ron is talking to his son, Shaquille, and neither of them have dealt with the grief of losing them, you know, wife and mother. And part of what I love about that relationship, it is very much like Deon Sanders and Shedore Sanders where it's manager and star athlete, but you gotta be father and son at the same time. So there are a lot of layers to that. And that helps you get into the real of what's going on. You know, another thing I love about it, you think about it as you get older, right? The relationship that Ron and Duane had on the show. Like we don't see like many complicated layered black male friendships on TV now. Why do you think that is? Well, one, I talk about this a lot.

15:12I forget there was a watchdog organization they did a study and they said white males represent 34% of the population, but they represent 84% of all the images on film and television. That's because content reflects leadership. So if you look at all the CEOs and studios, they're mostly white men. So when you say our stories don't see there from black men because who's thinking about us exactly right? So there's that part. Fortunately, and it's interesting because with Ron and Duane, I always say a different world is a love letter to black women. Directed and produced by black women, head writer, black women, starring, black women. You know, Diane Carroll talked about in her entire career. It was the first time she had ever been on the show written, produced, and starring black women. You know, and Kadeem and I always talked about women were writing for us. And there were times when Ron would say to Duane, I don't even know who you are. I'm like, hey!

16:13That's a really good one. That's a really good one. That's a really good one. Duane, why that's funny? Oh, but you've waited so long. Yeah, all right. But then Reggie Rock was there. So Reggie Rock's life would came on. And he's Reggie Rock, life would and Gina's life would are executive producers on the show as well in consultants. Reggie's going through the same thing. They have a son who's a D1 caliber athlete who's at NHPC. And he said, I want to get this right. This relationship, I want Ron and Duane to be right. I want Shaqio and Ron to be right. And sadly, there was an entire storyline with Ron and Duane that did make it. Wow. Because again, there wasn't enough time. There's so many other storylines with all the other characters. I have enough time for this answer. Yeah, there I've got a point to think of. I've got a plane to catch. That's a little crazy. I can't help it if I have vision. I was making up this reason. It was just thing in articulant. But that was so talkative. So that's about the relationship.

17:15And so I know that they're going to try to explore more of that in the seconds. I also like the relationship when with can I say the guest stars? Yes, okay. So Joe Martin comes on as Byron Parks and we haven't seen him since the wedding. And he was totally disrespected and just disappeared. So I was happy he was coming back. He is a senator now. And Whitley goes to him because she's on the board for help with funding for the school behind the way he's back. No, he's still traumatized. Yeah. Well, he was like, why would you do that? Not tell me, you know? And so there's some male shade on the show. And it's good between Joe and between Byron Parks and Duane Wayne. And I love the relationship with Glenn Termin. So there are male relationships that are really explored on the show.

18:19And it's interesting to me because we always see it with women. They're either fighting or they're all boot up or they're commiserating. But it lairs the show in a way that I think is more interesting. And the young cast too with our first openly queer character. And he's with the boys and it ain't a thing. Right? Everybody is just together having a beautiful time. All right, we have more with the cast of a different world. Jasmine Guy, Cree Summer and Darryl Bell when we come back. It's the breakfast club. Good morning. It's the real one, baby. I'm telling you. So I transplanted up. So I'm fine. So I'm fine. We don't set this party on fire. I'm telling you. West side. West side. We don't set this party on fire. Man, I promise. She's so self-conscious. She has no idea what she doing in college. But make it as you make it and don't make no money. But she won't drop out of Paris. So look at the funny. Now tell me that ain't insukur.

19:20The concept of school seems so succur. Soft more than three yards ain't picked a career. She like, get I just stay down her and do it. Because that's the money that bought her. And a few pairs of new asses. Because of many that he don't really care. And she's so precious. With the peer pressure. Cutting her for the cost. So she made a dollar a lady. Yeah. It's so long that it looked like weave. As she cut it all off, now she looked like Eve. She be dealing with some issues that you can't believe. Single black female addicted to replays as well. Oh, I'm falling. And when the falls down, the party is DLMJ and DLMJ. Just hilarious. Show me the guy. We are the breakfast. Club lawn rosers here as well. We're still kicking in with the cast of a different world. It's on Netflix right now. Jasmine Guy, Crees Summer and Darryl Bell. What are your thoughts on white students joining a black organization built by black people for black people, but infiltrated by white people? What are your thoughts on a specialties since you're an alpha? OK. So infiltrated carries with it context. Negative context. They're always be true.

20:20They colonized. Yeah. And that's the worst. And one of the things I can say. If you look at all the divine nine, with all the white members on both sides, one of the things you can say, if their goal was infiltration, they have failed miserably, right? For those folks, everybody knows for all of the interracial relationships, for those who are not of color that fit in our community. You know when it's authentic and when it's not. I mean, you can't pass the black card smell test if you ain't for real. If you go back and this is where I was headed, when Dr. King was jailed and he was talking to the police, he said, Y'all's interests are more aligned with us. Because they were talking about the fact that, look, it's we're out here for equality and job. It's black, brown, and poor people. What do you think, Y'all fit? And so most of the white folks that go to black schools, they go where they get the most money locally and oftentimes that's an HBCU. It's an economic decision.

21:21And if you look at that as a political coalition, there are so many more benefits. If black, brown, and poor people, which is more white folks than they like to think, voted along their own self-interest. And that's something you just don't see. So I have found every white sorority system in a D9 organization and every white brother. They've been for real. Now, if you really want to know where all of these organizations have been challenged, which is a whole nother conversation, it's when a trans man wants to pledge or a trans woman wants to pledge. There we go. That's what I have. Brown, that's what I told you. That's that's what that was the case. But that's what the real world conversations that all these organizations are dealing with. They are. Yes, today. I've never heard that one, but maybe. I'll tell you for real. That's real. And wait. Wait, wait. Can I interrupt you? You remember there are other people on the panel.

22:23Okay. Thank you. You're my poor right there. Okay. I know the neighbors of not allowing white people to join a frat or a sorority is to me perpetrating what was already done to us. And is that the same for the links or Jack and Jill? If somebody is white, maybe that white person grew up with black people and wanted to be in Jack and Jill. And I've heard this argument, well, this was created for black people because we weren't allowed. So is the inverse of that? Okay, we weren't allowed. So now y'all aren't allowed. And where is that? Why are we still talking in slave language? I'm a mulatto. My kids in the afternoon, but I'm not a slave anymore. Neither are we. And I don't like the adaptation of a colonization. When that system is wrong, how we have been deprived and raised is wrong.

23:28So why are we perpetuating that very system? And it does. And it does feel like there's a black people. There's more of a barrier of entry to get into their organizations. And that's the main correctness. That's right. The break into their society. It's a tough barrier of entry for us. Sure. It's at all. And you look at time of all the things White folks want about black culture is not to live in black neighborhoods in black space. Full stop. I grew up in all boys. No, it doesn't. No, they did your part. They're coming. They do that. They're going to come and get your five days. We see you kids. And no, I don't. I think there's a greater fear of our institutions not being supported by us in White folks pushing us out. OK, there was a paper bag test to get into a black school. Baggy? Well, yeah. Yes. And school days was about that. They just call the s*** out of you. And where does the colorism come from? Our folks, we are aggressively agreeing.

24:30You know, we're not. It comes from the slave plantation. And why are we perpetuating ideas that were wrong then and wrong now? Who was in the big house? Who was a house s***? The nice guy. The nice guy. Right. And why are we perpetuating that? When I did school days, I was shocked. I was like, this light skin, dark skin thing is a dated. I thought it was a dated thing. I wish it wasn't. Yeah. So we took on their caste system. Yes. And continue to. Well, that's how they kept us there. That's why we're celebrating the new and different world. That's right. This is what we're saying. This is what we're saying. This is what we're saying. This is what we're saying. Y'all go through and episode of different things. Yeah. I tell you, Shalameen, all the time. My dad is 84 years old, right? He looks at white people differently than we look at white people. He does not trust white people, right? Right. And the reason he doesn't trust white people, yeah, he doesn't. What? He knows he calls. Yeah. I got three things. Right. But the reason he does it is because my dad served in the military with other white people.

25:32Yeah. And he remembers them coming out the barracks and then going to a restaurant and they say, no, you can't eat here. You got to lie outside. That's right. And he watched the people that he served. We're going there and eat. Yeah. And he went to a water fountain. You know, there was a water fountain where he couldn't drink it back there. Yeah. So he looks at white people differently. So for him, when he sees white people going into a HBCU or going into the links or Jack and Jill or the divine, not he looks at it as, you got your own. Right. This is ours. Let us have this. Well, I understand that. And that's why we have Martha's venue because our professional black people in the 20s and 30s had nowhere to go. They weren't allowed in summer camps or kids, you know, and they were educated and affluent and created their own resort, their own place to go. I understand that. Well, the despair is. I was just trying to talk about the lack of awareness of what we are doing to ourselves when we start acting like that, acting like them. That was my main point.

26:33You know, rural. Yeah. These are the conversations that needed and this is why this is where the world was back. From men's right now, it's out right now. Come on. You can definitely check your first episode. I want to tell you all too, make sure y'all pre-order Jasmine guy's memoir. A different girl comes out February, nice written by her daughter Amani. Yeah. Some Amani. Make sure y'all go pre-order that as well. We got to put them up. Absolutely. Because Charlotte Mang got me in my book deal. That's right. He's my mentor. I love it. I love the title of the book too. Well, there you have it. Jasmine guy Darryl Belkrieson, thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thanks for meeting me. I love the breakfast. Yeah, it's you. It's the breakfast club. Good morning. Well, I'm a steamy. If you run a business, you've probably heard plenty of AI promises. But here's one thing we know for sure. When consumers here and add for your business, 90% want to know it's a real person talking. And that's what you'll get when you advertise with I Heart. We are guaranteed human.

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